WordPress

This post has the potential to be a monster. Instead, I thought I would just touch on this subject. Dreamweaver vs. WordPress? Even though I started out with Dreamweaver and notepad, I prefer WordPress, these days. I say “these days”, because the way we build websites have changed quite a bit since the 90’s. I started using Dreamweaver in the late 90’s. WordPress wasn’t around until 2003. When WordPress was released I decided to hop on board. Back then WordPress was not much of a website builder, it was a “Blog” builder. Many of us did not take WordPress serious as a “website” builder because of that. It wasn’t until 2010, I felt WordPress really began to take shape as a full blown website builder and not just a “Blog” builder. Today in 2017, WordPress has blossomed into one of the most popular website builders among professional web designers and marketing specialists globally. Why? Because WordPress is that good!

In 1997, Macromedia came out with Dreamweaver, then it was acquired by Adobe in 2005. To this day (4/2/17), I continue to use Dreamweaver for my much smaller projects. I find WordPress is easier for large scale dynamic functionality. Don’t get me wrong, for the right website project, Dreamweaver is perfect. When it comes to building websites, everyone has their flavor. With there being so many tools out there to build websites in 2017, I say start out on the easiest platform WordPress. As of 2017, it’s your best bet.

Note: It doesn’t matter which tools you decided to use for your next website project, just as long as you know how to be creative with those tools.

If you had no success, try updating or even going back a version of PHP running on your web host. One thing we must remember, not all versions of PHP are guaranteed to play nice. Just because you upgrade to the latest and greatest doesn't mean it will perform any better. In fact, it may perform worse, or in my case temporarily take down all 20 of my sites. cause a white screen of death, on not just 1 website, but 17. Scary stuff. I was fortunate to get my sites back up within an hour. This isn't always the case.

At one time or another every WordPress web developer has experienced the WordPress Internal Server Error. When it happens it can be scary. In this post I will go through the most common reasons why the WordPress Internal Server Error occurs.

A few things to try

Check your .htaccess file

Rename your .htaccess to .htaccess-old and try to re-connect to the site in question. If that fixed it, log into your WordPress site, go to settings / permalinks and click save. That will re-write your .htaccess file.

Check your WordPress memory limits

Create a php.ini file and add this line to it ---> memory=64mb. Upload it to the wp-admin folder. If this corrects the issue, you will need to figure out which plugin is causing the memory limits to be reached. You may need to contact your web host for assistance.

Check your plugins

You can deactivate all your plugins at once by renaming your plugins folder to something else. If you are able to access your website after doing this, then one of your plugins is the issue.

Check your wp-admin and wp-includes directories

Download a fresh copy of WordPress and upload the wp-admin and wp-includes folders in place of the one's on your server.

My web host recommends 644. 644 is usually the default for most web hosts.
When all else fails contact your web host for assistance with this issue or hire a guy like me. I can be reached from my contact page or 954-895-2555.